The Carpet of Wonder in the Grand Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman is the largest
carpet in the world. The previous record holder was a carpet woven in Qum, see below.
Gabbeh means unclipped, the term is used to refer to long pile tribal and village rugs. Often times weavers
would weave fine tribal rugs for sale and long pile coarser rugs for their own use. Typically the design is
less commercial and the pile is longer. Knot counts tend to be low. They seem to have gotten commercially
popular in the 1980s and around this time commercial versions started appearing. The oldest of the commercial
variety were simple geometric shapes in undyed wool. Tan fields with brown or black designs were common. In
the 1990s a handful of men sparked a renaissance of Gabbehs using natural dyed wool and non-traditional designs.
No smaller fingers as in children's fingers cannot compare to the experienced fingers of an older weaver.
Who would you hire to paint your house a nine year old or an experienced adult painter. Obviously the
child cannot compare to the master.
Two basic things that show quality in a rug are small, tight knots and a fine pattern with a clear design
on the front as well as on the back of the rug. The wool should feel oily, full of lanolin. It's always
best to purchase a rug from someone you trust and from a reputable store.
Most rugs are made by persons at least 14 years and older. Child labor is not a child working along side
his parents in the evening after school as a way to learn this time-honored art. Fairly paid refers to the
artisans setting a price that they feel adequately compensates them for their work and skill.
Completion time depends on the type of rug. As an example, a 9'x12' Persian rug that has 500 knots per
square inch would take 4-5 artisans working 6 hours a day 6 days a week approximately 14 months to complete!
Most rugs will not need major cleaning for at least 10-20 years. Do not use harsh chemicals or cleaners on
the rugs as the chemicals may react with the dyes. This is especially important for natural dye rugs. Ten
Thousand Villages cannot be held responsible for rugs cleaned with materials other than gentle soap and water.
Although you can take your rug to an Oriental rug shop and have the people there arrange to have it cleaned,
a quality handknotted Oriental rug can be washed in your driveway with regular soap. Using very little soap
(regular clothes detergent, hair shampoo, etc.), scrub down the rug with your fingers or feet and hose it down
with water. Rinse very thoroughly as soap that is left in the carpet makes a very stiff pile. Squeegie the pile
with your hands or with the side of a dustpan to remove excess water. Before washing, take note of the direction
your rug pile is laying. After washing, with your hand brush the pile down in the direction it was lying before
it was washed. The rug needs to be dried on a flat surface. Once the rug is dry, with your hands or with a vacuum
cleaner, raise the pile by stroking/sweeping in the opposite direction. Our staff has also found a home-use carpet
steam cleaner to work very nicely, using the approved cleaner soap.
"Knots per square inch" refers to how many knots are packed into a square inch. Single-knotted rugs (most of the
Bokharas and Tribals) have two strings in the same space that double-knotted rugs (Persians) would have four strings;
hence twice the amount of knots. In a double-knotted rug, the second knot sits in front of the first knot and so is not
visible from the back. More knots per square inch does not make a Persian rug a better rug than a Bokhara or Tribal rug.
Persians, Bokharas and Tribals are simply done in different ways. The basic difference between Bokharas, Tribals and
Persians is similar to the difference between appliqued and patched quilts--same materials, same skills, just different
techniques. If good materials are used and there is good craftspersonship, then there will be a good rug. A Persian might
last a bit longer than a Bokhara, but with an average life span of between 100-200 years, it becomes a moot point.
The cost of each rug is based on labor involved, raw materials used and size of the rug. Persian rugs generally are
more labor-intensive with more raw materials and therefore are higher priced. The final price from the artisan group
represents 70% labor, 25% material, and 5% shipping. The artisan group receives from 60-63% of the rug's retail.
Hand-knotted rugs are the only true Oriental rugs. Industry standards insist that for a product to be labeled as
"hand-knotted" it must actually be knotted by hand. Many other rugs are labeled and advertised as "hand-made" or
"hand-tufted", including hooked and needlepoint rugs. "Tufted" rugs can be made by hand or machine. The pile yarns
are punched into a fabric (usually cotton), the face pile is clipped and a cotton material covers the back of the tufted rug.
"Machine-made" rugs, as the name suggests, are made by machine - not by hand. "Wall-to-wall" carpeting is not as
durable as a hand-knotted rug, because its backing is glued to the foundation; knotting does not occur.
As with any other hand-made item, hand-knotted rugs are sometimes less than precise and this may add to their
appeal. However, what may be a tolerable imperfection to one person may be unacceptable to another. For example,
one rug may have crooked edges, white knots or contain areas of abrash. These conditions are not necessarily
"flaws", and what may be considered a flaw in one type of rug may be considered characteristic of a different
type of rug. Only you can determine whether a rug will be suitable in your home, given any minor imperfections
that may exist.
A change in color in the field and/or border of your rug is called "abrash" and is due to differences in wool
or dye batches used in the weaving of your rug. The color change extends across the rug, left to right, following
a weft yarn. Rather than view abrash as a rug flaw, many rug admirers value this condition as an artful hallmark
of a hand-woven rug. Many machine-made rugs are now emulating this abrash effect to give the appearance of a hand-made rug.
Owners of hand-knotted Oriental rugs often ask why the fringes of their rugs begin to easily pull away.
Most often, this occurs due to normal foot traffic and vacuuming.
The fringes on hand-knotted rugs are an extension of the foundation warp yarns of the rug. Because the
fringes lie directly on the floor they are not protected from foot impact and abrasion like the pile of
the rug. Also, a common practice with many modern Oriental rugs is the "chemical washing" of the rug after
weaving is completed. The rugs are saturated with a chlorine bleach solution to mute the colors and/or
give the wool a shiny appearance. The rug is then rinsed with an acid solution to prevent yellowing.
This procedure is repeated several time until the desired effect is achieved. This process does some
limited damage to the wool pile but has a harsher effect on the fringe, actually weakening the fiber.
This pre-existing fringe damage is often not noticed until after the rug has been cleaned and pieces
of fringe are noticeably absent. Prior to cleaning, a build-up of soils can act like an adhesive to
hold broken pieces of the fringe in place until the cleaning process removes the sticky soil residue.
The small, broken fibers are then free to slide apart and the fringe sheds rapidly.
If you gently tug on the fringes of your rug before cleaning, you may find the fiber comes apart easily.
At this point the only remedy is to replace the weakened fringe fiber by weaving in new, untreated and
undamaged fringe yarn. When you have a rug repair concern, call us for a free repair evaluation.
Almost every interior textile will lighten in color or "fade" over a period of time. The extent of damage
depends on the item's location, exposure to light and elements, color, intensity, type of dyes and the
dyeing method used. The sun (and other sources of light and fumes) may fade the colors of your specialty
rug, especially if the rug is placed in an intensely bright location. To minimize this problem, prevent
prolonged exposure to intense sunlight by keeping the windows covered or treating them with a protective
coating that filters out the ultra-violet (UV) rays of sunlight. You may also wish to simply rotate your
rug every three months.
A true Persian rug is a hand-knotted rug made in Iran. A Persian design rug may be hand-knotted, although
it could also be machine-made. In addition, it can be made in any rug-producing country, using a pattern
that once originated in Persia (Iran).
The names of Oriental rugs are often difficult to pronounce and confusing to many. They conjure up images
of faraway lands and exotic locales such as Sarouk, Kashan, Kerman, Bokhara, Peking, Samarkand, Heriz and
Tabriz. The names originally referred to the cities, villages or nomadic tribe which specialized in a
specific rug weave, pattern or quality. But using the cities to identify specific rug styles is no longer
a rule of thumb since many patterns are now woven in cities - and countries - other than their origin. The
names are now more useful in describing a pattern than discovering the area where the rug was made.
Today, many rug names include a prefix that identifies their country of origin. For example, the rug name
"Indo-Kashan" describes a rug with a Kashan design made in India, whereas a "Sino-Tabriz" is a Tabriz
design made in China. This is not always the case, however, as new designs are sometimes given their own
names by the wholesale rug companies that have them produced.
Each rug has a "light" side and a "dark" side, depending on whether one looks into the nap or with the
nap. The color intensity you see from one end of the rug may be vastly different from what you see on
the opposite end.
This results from the weaving process as each knot is hand-tied and pulled down. This creates the nap
of the rug with all of the fibers laying in the same direction. Once you have your rug in your home,
examine it closely from both ends, since you may wish to turn it 180-degrees to ensure the best possible effect.
An unexpected colour variation in the field of a carpet is called an "abrash".once in awhule it is pleasant
and charming to see this harsh and sharp shade difference,which in some carpets extent to a certain lenght
and in some others all throughout the length of the carpet.the reason for the striped irregularity of abrash
is due to the alterations in the dyeing process of skein of wool and the use of mordants.this change occure
mostly in nomadic or tribal rugs as the lack of means of these people causes them to buy and dye the hanks
of wool at diffrent times and from various lots in small quantities whereas in big carpet workshops the skein
of dye lots are supplied in large quatities.
this refers to the number of knots in length is referred to as (Raj) viz a 50 (Raj)carpet has in lenght 50
knots in every seven centimeteres.the higher the number of knots per square metre,the finer the weave is
considered to be.
the first step is toabsorb it immediatly with a non-dyed cloth,blotting paper or tissue paper.sponging
with wool or silk and a compatible solution for removing the specific substance (tea wine,and grease)
should be done til the colouring substance has been wiped off.each of the stains has a different technique
or removing it.many common substances are best removed from rugs and carpets with the following methods:
a)soft drinks, milk, coffee, tea, alcohol and chocolate can be removed by a mixture of lukewarm water and
soap or non-alkaline detergents.
b)eggs and bloodstains can be removed with mixture of salt, non alkaline detergent and lukewarm water.
c)human and animal urine is best removed with white vinegar with lukwarm water.clean grease, shoe polish
and fatty substances with non-alkaline detergent and white vinegar.
when fat spills on a carpet,it should be first gathered with spoon, then a piece of non-dyed cloth of
white blotting paper should be over it and pressed slightly with hot iron.with this method the fat is
absorbed.
